[plot] United in fate, together in action, part II

[theearth]

Who: Thunder Corp and anyone who wants to be involved in the machine theft!
Where: A little-used road in the middle of nowhere, heading towards the echo boundary
When: Nighttime, August 6th
What: Hijacking (and later, testing) Project Jump!
Warnings: Violence, most likely.



[ Ellie has done as promised and kept in contact with the hijacking team since making her announcement. They have been supplied with the following information:

There is one truck containing eight guards, with Ellie being the short one. All of them carry guns and have some training in their use. They're not expecting trouble, but if something does occur their orders are to escape with Project Jump instead of fighting, if possible.

Which means the truck itself needs to be stopped. Ellie has informed the team that she won't be driving, so she can't help them with that. She'll also need to put up some token resistance in the event of a fight, but she promises not to hurt anyone.

(The latter statement was texted along with a little winky emote. Ellie is not good at being reassuring.)

Finally, the team have been given a spot along the road to await the truck's arrival. It's an excellent place for an ambush: trees line both sides of the road, offering plenty of hiding places. ]

Comments

[peacefulwinter]

Thank you. We're just a-about ready on this side.

[Winter's on hand for the business end of this operation; she's been at the assigned location for some time now, just waiting for the signal. She's also presently hiding in a tree; there's a reason for that, though. Faintly, down from the tree:] Precure Love Link!

[The flash of light is as suppressed as she can manage, and basically unnoticeable, because some work's gone into that. Cure Diamond drops from the tree to the ground with a faint rustle, sliding her phone into the pouch it shares with her Lovely Commune. With a gesture to her side, her Love Heart Arrow also falls out of thin air into her outstretched hand.]

It's just about showtime. Is everyone ready?

[guitar_case_vagabond]

Yeah, I think we're pretty much ready over here.

[Raye and Senketsu aren't transformed just yet, since there's no way to do that without being flashy but they're standing by, waiting for the signal for their team to move in. She folds her arms after delivering her reply, huffing a little.]

I'd rather be on the ass-kicking team though.

It can't be helped. Our strength in our transformed state makes us more suited to transporting the machine.

Yeah, yeah, I know that. Doesn't mean I have to like playing delivery girl though.

[Yeah, she's been talking to her clothes the whole time. Deal with it.]

[gogoghostpowers]

[Okay, well. He sure is standing next to a girl who's talking to herself. That's happening, then.

It's a good thing there are more important things at hand, or he'd question it a lot more. As it is, he's still solid and perfectly visible, but he's also alert and ready to change that at a moment's notice.]

Yup--I think we're about ready for Operation Intangible Swipe over here.

[He just made that up, but screw you guys, he likes it. Especially because it's not a pun.]

[icy_heavens]

[Toushirou almost feels odd, here. He seems to be just about the only one who doesn't need to transform. It's a good thing, since transformations seem to have this tendency to be flashy, but it kind of sets him apart. Well, whatever.

[As he's not public, he's at least got the light blue hood covering his most distinctive physical feature -- the white hair. (It had been a thing among the team of kids, everyone having their own disguises with signature colours; this is about as far as he's willing to go with it.) Hyourinmaru is strapped to his back in case he's needed, though he hopes it won't be too necessary.

[He can't help the side-eye over at Raye. Talking to her clothes. And then he feels Hyourinmaru rumble expectantly in his mind and reminds himself that his sword talks to him, so he doesn't have any room to judge.]

Ready anytime.

[He's not suited to carrying the machine off, but being part of the so-eloquently-put "asskicking team"? Yep, that what he's here for.]

[alilyinthemoonslight]

[ This is not how Lily was expecting to get back into action. Straight up theft would, in general, usually seem like not the best of ideas. Still, it's Thunder Corp, and thanks to those who infiltrated it following the blackouts they know even more about what's been going on down there. If it's being moved out of the city, that's dangerous for everyone - they can't do a damned thing if it's gone from there.

Lily transforms as subtly as she can once she gets the signal. Then, there is Cure Moonlight. Sitting in a tree.

It's not terribly threatening, but it's best for her to hold off for at least a few moments. Wait for the truck to be stopped, be prepared to defend anyone - get the drop on any would-be attackers.

It makes her nervous for any number of reasons, and with her enhanced strength it's all she can to do not snap one of the branches she's holding onto. ]

Ready and waiting. Hopefully we can make this quick.

[jasminebloominginshadow]

[Jasmine hovered near Lily and Winter, arms crossed. Despite the last few times she'd had reason to fight, she felt... oddly secure. Oh, she wasn't convinced this would go off without a hitch. Not by any means.

But... she was trying to be sure of herself. Summer classes were going well. Everything with Marina was going well. She'd come to terms with Lily moving out. She had her peace of mind back, so-to-speak.

As much as one could when you were Jasmine Tsukuyomi, anyway.]

I'm just glad we're not fighting Vermini again.

[siesinddasessen]

[Blaine is standing next to Raye, silently and not inclined to add much to what she said through her anon texts to Fuyuka and Ellie - "I can carry it." The only communication that she does is prodding Raye and pointing towards the street when she complains about not being able to fight: You can if you want, I can do the first bit alone. The question is if that will be understood.

She's already transformed (thanks Alan, you might be useless but the concentration thing worked... now she only has to hope that it also works for the return...) and won't tell anyone who she is. And that is part of why she'd rather not speak, either. Her voice isn't well known and sounds different in this body anyway, but.]

[theearth]

[ Right on schedule, a rumbling from down the road heralds the truck's arrival. It's completely unmarked - no Thunder Corp logo at all - but the timing and the size of the vehicle would seem to indicate that it's the correct one.

It's huge. More specifically, it's huge enough to carry a phone box sized machine plus a small team of armed guards. How fortunate.

The truck is approaching at a reasonable pace - not breakneck speed, but not a leisurely crawl either. The reincarnates might want to act quickly! ]

[peacefulwinter]

[She'd hoped for something that screamed "evil, please attack me", but this would do fine. Nothing indicated this wasn't the vehicle, not with the size it was, and not completely unmarked. With a gesture, she draws a Loveads, slamming it into her Love Heart Arrow.] Everyone, it's time!

[For her own part, the Arrow comes around, and there's a light melody before she raises it over her head.] Precure... Diamond Shower! [Tap, tap... the edge of the implement lets out a ringing sound not unlike a tambourine, and snow quickly begins to build, solidifying into crystal-clear ice that forms a several-foot-tall barrier in the road, thick enough that it'll stop the truck cold if it tries to break through. But it's not quite fast enough. There's a plan for that, though.] Toushirou!

[icy_heavens]

[He almost winces when she calls out his name -- should she even be doing that? -- but he has more important things to worry about than that right now.

[His own power doesn't require anything besides his concentration. He's rarely done any freezing on this scale without Hyourinmaru's help -- and won't use the dragon now, because it's big and destructive, thus not what they're going for -- but he can do it. He uses his hands as a focus, even though the dragon in his mind assures him that much is unnecessary. It feels like it should help him, though, so he'll do it. Forgive him for not being the expert his other was, Hyourinmaru.

[It's not an instantaneous build, but it doesn't start from the ground up like Winter's. His own wall forms in seemingly more haphazard fashion, in some areas starting at the bottom and working up, others starting at the top and working down, and the rest crackling and echoing as it forms in between.

[Winter's ice wall in front of the truck, Toushirou's ice wall behind it. That thing isn't going anywhere now. Next step would be dealing with the armed guards.]

[theearth]

[ The truck screeches to a halt as the first wall goes up, and the driver immediately reverses at full speed to take evasive manoeuvres. The second wall puts a swift and painful-looking stop to that - the back of the truck slams into it with alarming force.

There's a brief, almost-panicky moment during which the driver attempts to find a way out of his predicament. With the walls and the trees combining to fence him in, he pulls a radio from his belt and begins yelling into it.

The last information sent by Ellie indicated that there would be six guards, plus the driver. Only four exit the vehicle, so it's safe to assume the other two stayed inside to guard the machine. The emerging guards are all wearing protective vests, visors and wielding handguns - and, as promised, one is significantly shorter than the others.

One of the taller ones instantly fires a shot towards the trees. Looks like they're not taking any prisoners. ]

[alilyinthemoonslight]

[ Cure Moonlight is at once surprised how quickly they just start firing upon them. That certainly puts some fears she had to rest, and she reacts in an instant, throwing out her hands. ]

Moonlight Reflection!

[ Her hands glow, and after the opening couple shots nothing else gets much further for a moment. A barrier of light forms on one side of the truck, shielding anyone on that side of it from gunfire - and then a bright burst explodes from her other palm, forming into another barrier on the opposite side.

The barriers will only last so long as she doesn't have to move from where she's perched, but even just a few seconds should do the trick she figures - enough time for the attackers to hopefully at least disarm them, and for Danny, Raye, and Blaine to get to work removing that machine as quickly as possible. ]

THE STEALING THREAD

[gogoghostpowers]

[Danny takes Cure Moonlight's barriers as a signal.]

Let's go!

[He tries to keep his voice down to a loud whisper, enough for Raye and Blaine to hear. Then, he turns intangible and starts running for the truck, one arm stuck out behind him so that the others can grab it and be turned intangible as well if they want. He's not being shot at (yet), but he'd rather play it safe in all the chaos.

He darts in between the barriers, ready to jump onto the truck. Here's hoping there's nobody left back there!]

Re: THE STEALING THREAD

[siesinddasessen]

[Blaine is faster than him by a good deal, her titan form having superior speed to a human - and the one human that is still on the truck gets no time to react when there's suddenly a large, ugly being overhead that grabs him by the next available part of his body and plucks his gun from him with one hand and throws him against the side of it with the other - Blaine gets lucky and he doesn't break anything, but is groggy and out for the moment.

She'll turn to Danny and Raye to check afterwards and throw the gun off the truck. Just pick it up and go? It's rather large and unwieldy... her and Raye might have to carry it together just because of that.]

Re: THE STEALING THREAD

[guitar_case_vagabond]

[Holy CRAP that big... monster... person... whatever is FAST. Blaine's already on the truck by the time Raye starts moving to transform and she stands there blinking for a second. Damn.]

Raye, you should transform. I believe I can withstand the impact of a bullet.

Yeah, yeah, I know!

[She pulls the pin from her glove and the actual transformation only takes a second, over in a flash of light and she's on the move, giving the knocked out guard a look as she runs past before she jumps up to join the Titan on the truck. She looks back over her shoulder.]

Alright, let's hurry it up and do this thing!

[gogoghostpowers]

[Well. He sure got passed almost immediately. But that's okay, that's okay--Danny's not here for his speed. He's here for his intangibility.

He's almost onto the truck when Blaine tosses the gun out the back, nearly smacking him square in the face, but after a double-take on that, he jumps into the truck with the two girls.]

Okay, okay--you guys grab hold and start carrying! I'll make sure we stay safe while we do that.

[That makes sense, right? RIGHT??? He hopes that sounded authoritative.]

[siesinddasessen]

Sure.

[She doesn't see a reason to question his authority right now - or rather, what he says, considering that they probably all had similar plans, and so she won't. Instead, she'll step towards the machine and grab the upper end, starting to slowly tilt it so Raye will be able to get a hold of the bottom.]

[guitar_case_vagabond]

[There's a second there where Raye pauses before the machine, frowning a bit. For all her talk, she'd never... actually tried lifting something like this. Oh, sure, she'd punched stone monsters into powder, kicked one across the street like a soccer ball and swung her sword with enough force to smash a crater into the ground but never actually lifting. Especially not something that looked like it would take a fucking crane to get off the ground.]

Ah, fuck it, no turning back. [She cracks her knuckles.] You ready.

Ready. Just focus on lifting it and I will deal with the rest.

Okay, let's steal this bitch!

[As Blaine tilts the machine, she reaches underneath and grabs onto the bottom, plants her feet and fucking lifts. Her teeth grit and there's a moment of struggle, Senketsu venting large blasts of steam... until his eye narrows in focus and star-shaped sparkles flash around her and the machine rises off the truck bed. It's still tough as it's pretty obvious this thing was never meant to be picked up this way and it wobbles a bit from the weight imbalance.]

Whoa-- okay, got it! Hurry up and grab the other side and let's ghost-mode the fuck outta here!

[siesinddasessen]

[The titan shifts its grip on the machine to let large hands glide under it, and then, once it is balanced out, uses the more ape-like proportions of arms and legs to its advantage to lift the thing off the truck.

There is a nod when they are far enough for Raye to be the next to hop down. Can she do it?]

THE DISTRACTION THREAD

[jasminebloominginshadow]

[Jasmine moves in behind her sister's shield in order to get closer, and then, suddenly, rises up over one of them. Then, she fires blasts of dark energy down at the guards, hoping to blast them off their feet]

Death from above! Muwahahahaha!

[Jasmine...]

[icy_heavens]

[He starts behind the shield, but he can't stay there forever. Even as one bullet bounces off of it, another clips his shoulder as he leaves the protected position. Ow. Stupid guns.

[Hyourinmaru rumbles quietly at the injury as Toushirou draws the blade -- but then reverses his grip. Instead of going for a slash, he gets in close to the guard that shot him and jabs the hilt up at his wrists, trying to knock the gun out of his hands.

[Calm down, you stupid lizard, he mentally chastises the dragon. It's just a graze. And people think Toushirou is the touchy one.]

[peacefulwinter]

[Winter knows she can't just stay behind cover; to that end, she waits for a lull in the gunfire before rushing out from behind the Reflection. Cure Diamond is fairly well-protected in all the places that really matter, so she's not worried about much.

That's a big mistake. As she moves clear of the shield, another volley of bullets rains down on her, as some of the guards are taking notice of her from the Wise Snake footage and gunning for her specifically. She's fast like this, but she can't outrun bullets, and while she's fairly good at getting out of the way, she still gets winged. Not once, but twice - one scraping the surface of her left arm, another grazing her right cheek. The latter causes her eyes to widen, realizing she's narrowly avoided certain death, and galvanizes her to work a little harder.

Without another word, her movements become crazier, and snow rains down across the road, before starting to shift and wrap around the soldiers' weapons and hands, freezing them in place, and handily freezing the triggers in safe positions. It's a temporary measure, but she doesn't need to take them out - she just needs to disable them for a little bit. And try not to cry, now; books did not prepare you for how much even getting grazed really, really hurt.]

[theearth]

[ Needless to say, the guards aren't exactly pleased by any of these developments. There's a mass scramble to get out of the way of Jasmine's ridiculous incredibly threatening assault, which only makes them more vulnerable to Winter's magic as they try to get their bearings once more. The frost covering Ellie's hand melts alarmingly quickly (she's, uh, running a fever today and is most assuredly not a Titan), but she quickly tosses her gun aside and calls out to the other guards. ]

She messed up my gun. Anyone's taser working?

[ That certainly was an innocent (and loud) question on her part. Definitely not a warning to those pesky Numbered types at all.

Meanwhile, the guard engaging Toushirou has also lost his gun thanks to that sword hilt smashing into his hands. Unfortunately, Ellie's words reach him too and he grabs for his own taser as he stumbles back. ]

[alilyinthemoonslight]

[ Lily certainly isn't maintaining those shields long. Once Toushirou is hit, she's starting to move - then Winter is hit. There is an ugly sort of twisting in her stomach as she bursts out of the tree, moving in a barely detectable blur of silver and purple at first, drawing her Moon Tact from her brooch.

It's all she can do to hold herself back, really - to not just let loose, knowing full well she could flatten a group of normal humans in a flash with her strongest attacks... but also knowing that's not what they're setting out for, especially considering how much damage that would leave in her wake. At least Winter (and Toushirou, even if the fright of seeing blood on her girlfriend's face sort of robbed her attention there) is still moving, which is far more than could be said for when Lily was injured back in May. So she does her best to push aside that horrible, gut wrenching sensation and focuses on the task at hand - making sure no one else gets hit like that.

She lands solidly nearby Cure Diamond, and drops down into a crouch. Her Moon Tact slashes out, and a wave of purple force surges out, aiming to take a couple guards down at the legs before they can grab those tasers. ]

[jasminebloominginshadow]

Winter!

[Jasmine grit her teeth. Even as Moonlight knocked over two of them, that left at least one more that wasn't Ellie standing, and she wasn't going to risk anyone else getting hurt. So she flew down.

Except that guard wasn't trying to get a taser. He was trying to smash the ice off off of his gun. Which meant it ended up going off unexpectedly.

A shot ran out, and the bullet hit Jasmine square in the chest... and bounced right off.

Jasmine hung in the air, eyes wide as saucers. A bullet had hit her, and she was completely unharmed.]